Fluorinated compositions have been used in a wide variety of applications including fluorochemicals for: water-proofing materials, fire-fighting foams for electrical and grease fires, semi-conductor etching, and lubricants; and fluoropolymers for: hoses, gaskets, seals, coatings, and films. Reasons for such widespread use of fluorinated compositions include their favorable physical properties, which include chemical inertness, low coefficients of friction, and low polarizabilities (i.e., fluorophilicity).
After production of a fluorinated composition, fluorinated compounds, including, for example, starting materials and reaction by-products, may be removed from the fluorinated composition. The removal of the fluorinated compounds may be to recover expensive starting material, to isolate valuable reaction products, to remove by-products, to prevent release into the environment, to achieve other desired composition modifications and/or enable reaction components, like water, to be purified for reuse or recycling.
U.S. Publ. No. 2010/0084343 (Mader et al.) discloses removal of fluorinated compounds from water by using ion exchange resin comprising quaternary amines, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,266 (Kuhls, et al.) discloses collecting the fluorinated compounds using an anion exchanger and concentrating them using reverse osmosis to recycle them back into the process. However, these processes utilize an ion exchange resin, which can introduce amines into the composition. Furthermore, these processes are directed to removal or removal and concentration of the targeted undesired components. If the undesired compounds are not isolated or reused in the process they may be directed to an additional treatment facility or to a disposal facility where they may be disposed of by incineration, for example.
While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It is to be understood, however, that the intention is not to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.